Sackville's Bantam Rangers come up short at 'The Joe'

The Sackville Bantam C Rangers participated in the 27th annual Joe Lamontagne Tournament this past weekend.

A 10-day layoff between games proved costly as they came away with just one win in three starts.

The Rangers fell 3-2 to the Cap-Pele Stars, defeated the Cole Harbour Canucks 1-0, and lost 4-3 to the Shediac Capitals.

Sackville came out flying in the opening game, scoring two goals in the first two minutes against a team who had beaten them twice in pre-season exhibition play in nearly November.

Just 10 seconds into the game, Simon Bruce won a draw to the right of the goalie back to Sebastian Leblanc who fired a one-timer into the net.

At 1:51, Morgan Wells intercepted a pass inside the face-off circle, waited patiently for the goalie to make a move, and then roofed a wrist shot to the top corner over the glove.

The Stars made it 2-1 midway through the period.

Mitchell Green turned aside several rushes, and goalie Caleb Silliker made two big saves late in the period.

Cap-Pele opened the second period with lots of pressure on Sackville.

Bruce and Brendan Johnston were robbed on a two-on-none break, and then the Stars tied it up. Devon Richards nearly scored on a point shot.

The Rangers failed to capitalize on two late-period power plays. The Stars scored late in the third for the win.

Shots were 27-12 for Cap-Pele, and Silliker earned the player of the game award for his strong goaltending.

Sackville again opened the scoring in game two.

Midway in the period, Bruce picked up a loose puck at the blue line and beat four defenders before stuffing in his own rebound for the only score of the game. Wells hit the cross bar moments later.

Silliker stoned several players at the end of the period.

The Rangers came hard at the Canucks in the second period, outshooting them 7-3.

Caleb Spencer forced turnovers on the forecheck. The line of Bruce, Johnston, and Leblanc buzzed the crease. Robert MacQuarrie made a big shot block.

In the third period, it was the Canucks' turn to press the play.

Early on, Danika Acton and Abbi Burns combined for a scoring chance. Leblanc was stopped on a rebound from a shot by Acton.

Silliker made 15 saves in the third period, many of them difficult, to preserve the win. Selena Estabrooks was named player of the game for Sackville.

Entering the final game of the round robin, the Rangers knew a win or a tie would advance them to the quarter-finals.

It looked grim to start the game when the Capitals scored at 1:31. But at the four-minute mark, Johnston passed in front to Acton whose shot just went wide, but Leblanc was right there to put in the rebounds off the back boards.

Sackville took the lead when Bruce scored on a power play picking up a loose puck in the slot. Johnston and Leblanc picked up assists.

In the second period, Shediac dominated play in the first two minutes but could not score.

Sackville failed to score on two power play chances. Jordan Hicks fired a bullet from the point that nearly went in.

The Rangers ran into penalty trouble of their own and gave up a power play goal with two minutes left in the second period, and another just one minute into the third period to trail 3-2.

Sackville started to fade and the Capitals outhustled them and scored to make it 4-2.

The Rangers mounted a comeback when Bruce scored his second of the game at 6:47.

He stole the puck at the red line and broke in alone on the goalie, beating him high to the glove side. Sackville thought they had tied 30 seconds later when they scored on an end-to-end rush by Bruce, but after signaling a goal, the officials changed their minds and ruled that the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the line.

The Rangers pressed for the equalizer but could not squeeze one in.

Final shots were 27-25 for Shediac, and Bruce picked up the player of the game award.